mandeep punia

‘Govt Trying to Muzzle Our Voices’: Protesters Who Were Detained for Supporting Wrestlers Speak

While Modi inaugurated the new parliament building with much religious fanfare, Olympic medalist wrestlers and their supporters were detained.

New Delhi: India’s top wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangita Phogat, Bajrang Punia and their supporters were detained from different parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana as they marched towards the new parliament building on Sunday. The wrestlers were manhandled by the police while Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new parliament building amidst a boycott by 21 opposition parties.

Modi performed religious rituals in the parliament complex and was cheered with chants of “Modi-Modi” inside the parliament while the protest site at Jantar Mantar, where wrestlers have been protesting for more than a month, was dismantled by the police.

Indian wrestlers had given a call to hold ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’ outside the controversial new parliament building to protest inaction by the government against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India’s president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Farmers’ unions from Punjab, Haryana and UP had come out in support of the protesting wrestlers.

“Naya desh apko mubarak (Congratulations on the New India),” wrestler Vinesh Phogat said while sitting in a police bus as she was taken into custody. Vinesh, like Olympian Sakshi Malik, was dragged by several Delhi policewomen and put on a bus and taken to an undisclosed location.

Journalist Mandeep Punia has also been taken to the Bawana Police station where at least a 100 people including three minors have been detained by the police. Thirty-five-year-old farmer Mandeep Krantikari, also in detention, said, “We were called by the police to talk at Jantar Mantar. Since day one we have been protesting against the government peacefully but today they have showed extreme brutality.”

“The government is trying to muzzle our voices, but the more they try to suppress our protest, the more it will grow,”he added.

Seventy-seven-year-old Madhu Prasad, who has also been detained at the Bawana Police station, said,”I think we have been kidnapped by the Delhi Police. We were standing there in support of the wrestlers and doing nothing but they started dragging old people. Then I too was held by a policewoman.”

Seventy-year-old Girvar Singh, who alleged he was detained, said that the women were dragged and their clothes were torn by the Delhi Police in its heavy-handed action against the wrestlers and their supporters.

Shreya, a student of Delhi University and an activist of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), alleged that she was dragged, her clothes torn and she was manhandled by the police.

She said, “Today they are inaugurating Parliament and claiming that it is a temple of democracy. But we are not being allowed to peacefully protest and are being detained. Police had started detaining people since early morning. We were dragged the day we had protested in the Delhi University in support of the wrestlers as well.”

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh)’s seven buses were detained; two from Kundli border, three while they were on their way from Ambala to Jantar Mantar and two were not allowed to Shahpur and Tharwa Majri village of Haryana’s Ambala district..

Nearly 35 farmers’ leaders and their supporters who were heading to Jantar Mantar were detained from Delhi-Haryana’s Kundli-Singhu border and have been kept at Mohana police station near Sonipat, according to farm leader Tejveer Singh. Detainees include Amarjit Mohri President of BKU (SBS), Baldev Zira of BKU (Krantikari), Gurpreet Sangha, Ranjit Singh Raju of Grameen Kisan Samiti (GKS)and Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh.

Tejveer alleged that their pick up truck carrying langar for the protestors was stopped in Haryana. Sarwan Pandher, farmers’ leader from Punjab’s Majha region along with 300 women farmers was not allowed to leave Manji Sahib Gurudwara of Haryana’s Ambala district to join the protest.

BKU (Ugarhan) led a protest in Punjab’s Mohali in support of the wrestlers and against the Enforcement Directorate’s decision to summon farmers’ leader Navsharan Kaur for questioning.

Farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait and his supporters were also stopped at Ghazipur border of Delhi.

After the police crackdown on women wrestlers, India’s top opposition leaders reacted on Twitter.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted a video of Vinesh Phogat being dragged by the Delhi police with the caption, “Rajabishek Poora hua, Ahankari Raja sad par kuchal raha hai janta ki awaz.”

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Desh ka maan vadane wale hamare khiladiyon ke sath aisa bartav behad galat evam nindniye hai.”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, “Strongly condemn the way Delhi Police manhandled Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers. It’s shameful our champions are treated in this manner. Democracy lies in tolerance but autocratic forces thrive on intolerance and quelling of dissent. I demand they be immediately released by police. I stand by our wrestlers.”

Congress Calls For Judicial Probe into Haryana Police’s Lathicharge on Farmers

Another party delegation submitted a memorandum to the NHRC in Delhi demanding action against the Karnal SDM.

Chandigarh: A delegation of Congress MLAs on Tuesday met Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya, seeking a judicial probe into the lathicharge on farmers and requested him not to give his nod to the land acquisition Bill passed by the state assembly recently.

Meanwhile, another party delegation submitted a memorandum to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Delhi demanding action against the Karnal SDM who ordered lathi charge against farmers. The delegation also demanded compensation for the victims.

In another development, Haryana chief secretary on Tuesday sought a detailed report from the Karnal deputy commissioner after protesters blocked a national highway and police used force to disperse them.

The state police had lathicharged a group of farmers disrupting traffic movement on a highway while heading towards Karnal in Haryana to protest against a BJP meeting on August 28.

The Congress delegation led by the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also submitted to the Governor a video of an official, in which he is seen telling police to break farmers’ heads, according to a statement.

Submitting a memorandum, Hooda reiterated his demand for a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court or a retired judge into the lathicharge incident, in which around 10 farmers were injured.

Also read: The Bias Against the Indian Farmer Is a Deep and Troubling One

On the issue of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Congress delegation urged the Governor not to give his approval to it and send it back to the Haryana Assembly for reconsideration.

Hooda had earlier said the Haryana government has delivered another blow to the rights of farmers through the Bill, with the Congress demanding that it be either withdrawn or referred to a select committee.

“This Bill is anti-farmer, anti-poor and undemocratic. The Bill was passed hurriedly without a detailed discussion in the House,” Hooda told the Governor.

Hooda said the new Bill will hurt interests of farmers who are already agitating against Centre’s agriculture laws for the past nine months.

He claimed that provisions safeguarding interests of farmers have been taken away.

All provisions of the old Land Acquisition Act, such as the consent of farmers, the procedure for prior notice and giving residential plots with compensation in lieu of land, have been done away in the new Bill, Hooda said.

Earlier talking to reporters here before meeting the Governor, the former chief minister commented on the completion of 2,500 days of the BJP-led government, alleging, “Both terms of the BJP government have been full of failures. Then what is the government celebrating?”

“Is the government celebrating the fact that it has made Haryana number one in unemployment, crime, drugs, scams, farmer protests and pollution,” he asked.

“Is the government celebrating the fact that it got the farmers beaten up with sticks? Is it being celebrated that the farmer is sitting on the streets today? Is it celebrating the fact that today the state has got a debt of Rs 2.5 lakh crore,” he asked.

Meanwhile, another delegation of Haryana Congress leaders led by party general secretary Vivek Bansal, who is incharge of Haryana affairs at the AICC, submitted a memorandum to the NHRC in Delhi regarding the lathicharge.

Bansal told mediapersons that they demanded that the officer who directed such a barbaric lathicharge on the farmers be suspended.

The government should publicly apologise for this act and find a way to fulfil demands of the farmers, he said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is giving the slogan of ‘atmanirbhar’ but on the other hand the government is ordering lathi-charge on farmers’ who have actually made the country self-reliant,” said Bansal.

Vivek Bansal was accompanied by Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda and other senior leaders, including Kiran Choudhary and Ajay Singh Yadav.

The Bias Against the Indian Farmer Is a Deep and Troubling One

That a bureaucrat told police to ‘break the heads’ of farmers who were protesting in Karnal indicates that those in the system have bought into the narrative that farmers are the problem.

The protesting farmers’ worst fears are slowly starting to materialise. One of their many concerns has to do with the inordinate amount of power the bureaucracy will have over them if the three Central farm laws are implemented.

The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Fair Services Bill, 2020 or, as the farmers refer to it, ‘the ‘contract farming law’, gives a shocking amount of legal impunity to private players who enter into agreements with farmers. In case of a disagreement between a farmer and a corporation, for example, a farmer will not be allowed to appeal to the judicial system but only to bureaucrats of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) rank or at most, collector rank!

Ravi Azad, a 30-year old youth leader with the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Haryana, points out wryly, “The attack on peacefully protesting farmers at the Bastara toll plaza in Karnal on August 28 has shown us very clearly what we can expect from SDMs.” He is, of course, referring to the chilling video of SDM Ayush Sinha that has gone viral in which he is seen instructing the police to quite literally ‘break the heads’ of the protesting farmers.

Screengrabs and photographs shared on Twitter showing police lathicharge on farmers at Karnal and its aftermath. Photos: Twitter

Says Azad, “If it comes to a showdown between a farmer and a corporation that has the blessings of this government, how many SDMs will actually deliver justice to the farmer? Most have sold their conscience and will do the bidding of the government in power. If an SDM who instructed the police to inflict bodily harm on peaceful protestors is still walking around freely, where is the rule of law?”

Not only were dozens of farmers badly injured in the lathi charge at the Bastara toll plaza, Sushil Kajal, a farmer in his 50s from Rampur Jata village who had been a part of the protests since they began, succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife and two sons, one of whom is still in school.

In an interview with journalist Mandeep Punia, Jagdeep Aulakh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union says that another farmer, Gurjaint Singh, was beaten repeatedly on the head, but his turban protected him. But when Gurjaint lost his footing and fell, the policeman who was beating him started hitting him mercilessly on the side of his face, breaking his nose and damaging his eyes. Gurjaint now has impaired vision as a result.

Vasu Kukreja, a 27-year old Tis Hazari court lawyer who supports the cause of the protesting farmers and is currently fighting 1,500 cases on their behalf, says, “The police are supposed to follow a Code of Conduct if protestors become a threat. [Here, the protestors were peaceful and not a threat.] The police are first required to issue a verbal warning. If that doesn’t work, they are expected to use water cannons. If that, too, doesn’t work, they are within their rights to use teargas and then, once they have exhausted all other options, they can use their lathis, but only below the waist. As a final resort, of course, they can detain people. But the fact that an IAS officer specifically instructed policemen to hit peaceful protestors on their heads shows we have entered a dangerously lawless time!”

According to Jagdeep Aulakh, the police lathi-charged the protestors not once, but four times.

Not surprised

Agricultural economist Devinder Sharma, who has been focusing attention on the plight of India’s farmers for over two decades now, is surprised neither at the barbarity of the police’s actions nor at the bureaucrat’s orders that brought them about. He says:

“You should see how many people on my Twitter feed are condoning the actions of the police and saying the farmers are gundas and that they deserve this! The reason they believe this is that an entire narrative has been built over the years (and much more actively over the last several months) that farmers are the problem, but they are not. They are in crisis, and have been for many decades now. The three farm laws were the last straw for them and have forced them to take to the streets in protest.”

Sharma holds pro-corporate, neoliberal economists responsible for the mess that Indian agriculture is in today. “Farmers are victims of an economic design that is deliberately impoverishing them. Supranational bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund encourage countries like India to make agriculture unsustainable, and force farmers off their farm lands so as to turn them into cheap labour in the cities. But the migrant crisis following the lockdown of 2020 showed us just how disastrous that kind of thinking is, and how inhospitable cities are to those who make up the vast majority of the country.”

Sharma wants to know why, at a time when many countries around the world are seriously starting to doubt the wisdom of heavy corporate involvement in agriculture, the Indian government is hell-bent on implementing three clearly pro-corporate farm laws. (The answer, of course, is obvious to anyone who understands the close, symbiotic relationship between this particular government and its favourite corporate houses.)

The bias against farmers, Sharma says, is deep and has been reinforced over the decades by journalists and media houses who simply parrot what ‘pro-reform’ economists saying. It is no surprise, therefore, that so many civil servants have bought into this bias as well.

Sharma, who addresses audiences consisting of both police and civil servants, often tells them, “Before you order a lathi charge against farmers, please understand their circumstances! Please understand they have been given a raw deal systemically and treated unfairly for decades now. You don’t see corporate houses protesting at Jantar Mantar, do you?”

Women farmers and supporters during the Kisan Sansad against the farm laws at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, July 26, 2021. Photo: PTI

Ravi Azad, the Bharatiya Kisan Union youth leader mentioned earlier sums up the situation and spells out the perils facing Indian society as a whole:

“The British adopted a divide-and-rule policy when they ruled over us. Successive Indian governments have done the same. They have divided us on the basis of caste and religion. Now they are dividing the urban from the rural. You can call us names and look away when our heads are cracked open, but please remember, when the corporations monopolise and cartelise agriculture and food prices skyrocket, we the farmers will still somehow be able to grow our own little bit of food and survive. What will you city dwellers do?”

Rohit Kumar is an educator with a background in positive psychology and psychometrics. He works with high school students on emotional intelligence and adolescent issues to help make schools bullying-free zones. He can be reached at letsempathize@gmail.com.

Watch | ‘We Will Stand Here Whatever Happens’: Digital Media Journalists on Mandeep Punia Case

Despite threats from the police, digital media journalists tell The Wire’s Arfa Khanum Sherwani that they will not give up on doing journalism.

Mandeep Punia, who was arrested from the Singhu border while reporting, secured bail on Tuesday, February 2.

In order to understand the travails faced by the independent and digital journalists on the ground, The Wire‘s senior editor Arfa Khanam Sherwani spoke to digital media journalists on Delhi’s Ghazipur border.

Watch | Journalist Mandeep Punia Speaks to ‘The Wire’ After His Release

The journalist who was detained by the Delhi Police at Singhu border, while he was working, speaks on independent work and how it is viewed in India.

On January 30, journalist Mandeep Punia was detained by the Delhi Police at Singhu border, while he was working.

A case was registered against Punia under various sections including 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Punia speaks on the circumstances that led to his arrest.

‘Want to Be a Reporter? We’ll Make You a Reporter’: Mandeep Punia Recounts Day of Arrest

The independent journalist spoke to The Wire about the unique progression of events on the day of his arrest.

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia, who had been detained on January 30, at the Singhu border where he was working, was given bail on February 2.

While Delhi Police has claimed that Punia had pushed through barricades and manhandled police personnel, editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, had said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu.

Speaking to The Wire, Punia noted that he was at Singhu at about 6 pm on January 30, when the Kisan Sangharsh Mazdoor Committee was conducting a press conference. Punia was with a colleague, Dharmender Singh, and was attending the conference when he spotted police officials abusing migrant workers attempting to cross the barricades at Singhu.

“Dharmender and I began filming this, but one of the police officers grabbed Dharmender and started dragging him away. I called out to the officer, saying that he cannot behave like this with a journalist,” Punia said.

Within moments more officers had arrived. “First, they rained blows on us. Then, they dragged us to a tent and beat us up even more. While they beat us, we heard them saying, ‘Do you want to be reporters? We will make you reporters’,” Punia said.

There was more verbal and physical abuse.

Mandeep Punia had scribbled on his leg while he was detained. Also visible in the photo is a scab from the beatings, he said. Photo: Mukul Singh Chauhan/The Wire

Later, Jatinder Meena, additional deputy commissioner of police Outer North Delhi, arrived in the tent. The officers filed out and Meena told the duo that a mistake had been made. Meena also offered medical aid for them and said they would be released, Punia recounted.

“We told him we will get our own medical aid. Getting a medical assessment done by them would mean that they would later put us in jail,” Punia said.

Punia also sought to remind Meena that he had met him in the morning of the same day regarding a report he was working on and that he was, after all, a journalist. “Meena agreed to this,” Punia said.

The two were led to a white Scorpio after this and driven away. “We arrived at a run-down building which I am not sure was a police station or not. The officers took off my winter jacket and turned on the ceiling fan in the room I was placed in. They began making absurd conversation amongst themselves saying, ‘Let’s show that he was arrested from a red light area,’ and so on,” he said.

Also watch | Journalists Protest Against Arrest of Mandeep Punia

At a point, a constable rushed into the room and informed the officers that a video of Punia’s arrest has gone viral in social media, he said. The officers left and returned 30 minutes later.

“I was taken to the Ambedkar Hospital in a private car. At 1.40 am, we arrived for a medico-legal. They tried influencing the doctor by telling him that I had a scuffle with the ‘staff,’ but the doctor told them that he had seen the video of my arrest and that he should be left alone to do his job,” Punia told The Wire.

At 3.30 am, Punia said, he was locked up at the Samaypur Badli Police Station. Repeated requests to call his friends, his editor or his wife, were denied, he said.

Punia also said that he was presented before the magistrate at a time when his lawyers were being told that his hearing was going to take place at a later time.

The full video of the interview can be found here.

Journalist Mandeep Punia, Held at Singhu Border, Gets Bail

The Delhi police had opposed Punia’s bail, saying that the he may “indulge in instigating the protesters.”

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia, who had been detained on Saturday, January 30, at the Singhu border while at work, was given bail on Tuesday, February 2.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Satvir Singh Lamba observed that the complainant, victims and witnesses are all police personnel – a fact that Punia had highlighted in his bail plea on January 31.

“There is no possibility that the accused and applicant can influence any of the police officials,” the judge said.

Punia was arrested by police on Sunday in an FIR registered under various sections including 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Also read: ‘Shooting the Messenger’: Newspaper Editorials Slam FIRs Against Journalists

The court directed Punia not to leave the country without its permission.

The Delhi police had opposed Punia’s bail, saying that the he may “indulge in instigating the protestors and may create nuisance at the protest site with the group of different people and may hamper the investigation.”

The FIR against him states that he had come into physical contact with a constable and had attempted to move through barricades set up by police. A senior police officer told Indian Express that “he misbehaved” and that “there was some manhandling as well.”

However, editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, had said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu on January 30, when he was arrested.

“It is pertinent to mention here that the alleged scuffle incident of present case is of around 6.30 pm. However, the present FIR was registered at around 1.21 am on the next day,” the court noted.

Punia had noted the seven-hour delay in his plea as well.

“Accused shall not indulge into similar offence or any other offence in the event of release on bail. Accused shall not tamper with the evidences in any manner,” the court told Punia, granting bail.

It further directed that the accused shall join the investigations as and when required by the investigating agency.

Punia will have to furnish bail bond worth Rs 25,000 and a surety of the same amount.

Bar and Bench had reported that Punia, in his bail plea, had highlighted that not having his press card on him was not reason enough to detain him.

Journalists had severely condemned his arrest and had staged a protest outside the police headquarters in New Delhi.

(With PTI inputs)

Dear Jailer Saheb: A Letter From Ravish Kumar

No prison wall can be so high as to suppress the soaring free voice. Those who seek to shackle the freedom of expression want to turn the entire country into a giant jail.

Dear Jailer Saheb,

The annals of Indian history have bequeathed the dark deeds of these dark times to you. Journalists with a free voice, who are known to speak truth to power, are being picked up by their very own police in the dead of night. The police then proceed to file a flurry of FIRs against them in the most far-flung districts possible.

Be careful how you treat these free voices. In the course of WhatsApp chats, tell your children that the ones who question power are lodged in your jail, and are under your care. You feel bad about it, but a job is a job, after all. As for the name or names responsible for their incarceration, your children will easily google their way to the desired information.

Your senior officials, drawn from the prestigious IAS and IPS, unwilling to look their children in the eye, will caution them to stay away from journalism as a career option, or vocation. They will explain the downside of that option – “If not me it will be some other uncle who will clap you in irons. What you need to do is become a slave and stave off jail.”

Mother India is a witness to it all – the blatant manner in which the lapdog media is being crowned as independent voices are being shoved behind bars.

Independent journalists have acquitted themselves well on digital media platforms. Take the ongoing farmers’ movement – the protesting farmers have seen how through YouTube and Facebook live, information about their movement has reached villages far and near. In fact, it is to destroy this lifeline that ordinary errors are being met with the might of FIRs and a barrage of charges.

Also read: FIRs vs Free Speech, the Signature Tune of Indian Fascism

The eyes and ears of the biggest jailer of all are trained on the free voice. Jailer saheb, you are not the real jailer; the jailer of consequence is elsewhere.

If all that is happening is right, then let a Pradhan Mantri Jail Bandi Yojana (the Prime Minister Imprisonment Scheme) be launched, in the hallowed tradition of flagship Pradhan Mantri schemes. And let the labour of those availing of MGNREGS be used to construct jails in every village, where those who speak up and speak out can be banished.

Not just that, anyone who so much as casts a glance in the direction of those jails should be imprisoned as well. Let the proclamation be made countrywide – the Pradhan Mantri Jail Bandi Yojana has been launched. Please maintain silence.

Photo: Max Pixel/Public domain

If the journalists who speak truth to power are thrown in prison, there will be two consequences – the scribes behind bars will start bringing out worthy newspapers and the newspapers published in the ‘free’ world beyond the prison walls will be dominated by sycophants. That, I am sorry to say, will not bode well for Vishwa Guru (world leader) India.

Hence, my earnest appeal – the cases filed against journalists Siddharth Varadarajan, Rajdeep Sardesai, Amit Singh and others should be taken back. Mandeep Punia should be released. The Machiavellian game of FIR as intimidation should come to an end.

Also, remember one thing – the day the people of this country understand the game that is afoot, the following legend will be emblazoned on the walls of every village, on every tractor, bus, truck, plane and bullet train; in mandis, melas and even urinals – “No country can remain free in the presence of a slavish media. Only freedom from the lapdog media can bring about a new, renewed freedom.”

Ravish Kumar is an anchor with NDTV India.

Translated from the original Hindi by Chitra Padmanabhan.

Watch | Journalists Protest Against Arrest of Mandeep Punia

The Wire’s Seraj Ali spoke to the journalists who had gathered for the protest.

On January 31, journalists from several digital and independent platforms registered their condemnation of the arrest of Mandeep Punia, an independent reporter. They gathered outside the Delhi Police headquarters and called for the release of Punia.

On Saturday, the Delhi police detained two journalists covering the ongoing farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s Singhu border: Punia, a freelance journalist and contributor to the Caravan magazine and Dharmender Singh, who works for Online News India.

Dharmender Singh was released early on Sunday, but Punia was formally arrested and sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

The Wire‘s Seraj Ali spoke to the journalists who had gathered for the protest.

‘Not Carrying Press Card No Ground for Arrest,’ Says Scribe Sent to 14-Day Judicial Custody

Punia has also contended that no information was given to his family members until late on Saturday night on his detention, and that there was a seven-hour delay in filing the FIR.

New Delhi: Journalist Mandeep Punia who was detained on Saturday at the Singhu border while at work was sent to judicial custody for 14 days on Sunday, January 31. His plea for bail was denied.

Delhi Police presented Punia before the Court 2 at Tihar jail where Metropolitan Magistrate Akhil Malik gave the order for his remand, LiveLaw has reported.

The court directed the investigating officer (IO), who was not present at the hearing, to file a formal response. His regular bail plea has been listed at the Rohini Courts today, February 1.

Bar and Bench has reported that Punia, in his bail plea, not only highlighted the fact that both the complainant and the victim are police officers in his case, but also that not having his press card on him was not reason enough to detain him.

Punia has also contended that no information was given to his family members until late on Saturday night on his detention.

The FIR was registered at around 1.21 am, despite him being accused of having been a part of the scuffle at around 6.40 pm the previous evening, the plea also says, highlighting the seven-hour delay.

In the plea filed through advocates Sarim Naved, Akram Khan and Kamran Javed, Punia noted that he had only been executing his duties as a journalist when the police detained him.

Another journalist, Dharmender Singh, who was also detained on Saturday was allowed to go after he displayed his identity card to police.

Also read: Delhi Police Arrest Journalist at Singhu Protest Site, Detain and Release Another

“Accused is a freelance journalist and not carrying press card can be no grounds for a case or arrest,” Punia said in his plea.

Punia has been charged under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), read with Section 34 ( acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, according to LiveLaw.

The FIR against him states that he had come into physical contact with a constable and had attempted to move through barricades set up by police.

A senior police officer told Indian Express that “he misbehaved” and that “there was some manhandling as well.”

Editors of Caravan magazine, where Punia is a contributor, have said that he was working on a report on what went into the sudden appearance of men who claimed to be locals at Singhu on January 30, leading to violence at the site.

Journalists on Sunday evening staged a protest outside police headquarters against Punia’s arrest. The protesters also held a small march near the area.